Easy Hanging Planter DIY

Sometimes when you move from one space to another, you realize how much (or how little) you really have of something. I don’t know if it’s because our new house is a very different shape than the last one (long, narrow ranch instead of open concept), but I definitely have more plant stands than places to put them in the house. I’ve got the “plants-on-the-ground” base covered for sure, so I’ve been able to turn my attention to hanging planters instead. As much as I adore the fishbowl planters that I had up in our last house, I wanted to find another easy solution for hanging plants that would look a little different for this new space. Elsie has these really cute brass bowl-type hanging planters at her house, and when I saw these hammered gold bowls, I thought they would be just the thing to use for a DIY version.

Use your metal drill bit to drill 3 evenly spaced holes about 1/2″ from the top of your metal bowl rims (mark the spots with a marker to know where to drill). I found it easiest to place a piece of scrap wood under the bowl and then drill from the inside of the bowl down to the wood piece beneath it. I used a 1/4″ bit so I could fit my 1/8″ quick link through the hole later.

Take your 9 quick links and 3 screw hooks and give them a quick coat of gold spray paint so they match the bowl and chain. Once they are dry, unscrew each quick link to the open position and put them through the holes in your metal bowls.

You don’t need chain cutters to shorten the chain length to size—just pliers! Use your needle nose pilers to open the links enough to separate the chain where you would like it to be cut, and keep the links bent open at the top and bottom of each chain section so you can attach it to the planter. I separated three sets of chain that were 38″, 28″, and 20″ to create the different lengths.

Use the pliers to attach the bottom of each chain section to a quick link, and then before you connect them at the top, plant your plants in each bowl. Depending on the type of plant you choose, you may want to add some rocks at the bottom for drainage, but I find that a lot of plants do OK without the rocks.

Once your plants are in, attach all three of the chain tops to a single screw hook. Screw your hook into the ceiling to secure the plant. You may want to pre-drill a small hole to make this part easier, and you may also want to use an anchor in the ceiling if the weight of the planter calls for it.

Usually odd numbers looks best when grouping items, but you don’t have to stick with three! You could do just one big planter, five small ones, or heck, any odd number you want! I love using drape-y plants (is that a word? drapey??) so they fall out over the edges, but you can plant whatever you like. All in all, this was a pretty quick project to put together considering what an impact it has on my little office corner—so much green is happening now!! Think you’ll take some plants to the sky in your home? xo. Laura

I really love the plants! Can you tell what type of plants you have in them? I have been looking at plants that are non-toxic for cats and dogs and it seems that the only ones I like are on the no-fly list! I think a post about what ABM writers have in their own homes with their animals would be awesome!

It looks great! You must have a really, really green thumb! I’ll have to see if I have a space to try it. I was planning on getting a couple more plants soon, as I’m nowhere near the 1 plant per 100 square feet recommendation!

Drapey is definitely a word 😉 Ages ago, when my mom was decorating her screened-in porch with Christmas lights, I told her not to hang them in a straight line around the top, but to hang them drapey-drapey-drapey!! She laughed for an hour (and again every time the opportunity arose to use that phrase). These are really nice and the plants are beautiful!

This is super nice!
It looks great. I really want hanging plants like this, but I can’t find nice things to hang up. So making it myself would be a good idea.
I am not so much of a DIY’er, but I will absolutely keep this in mind and hopefully I will just feel inspirational someday, haha ;).
xoxo

Oh man, I’m not sure! Hang them high enough and far enough away from anything else so they can’t jump into them. You may not be able to deter them from the low hanging drapey ones so maybe do ones that don’t hang down that far…

The bottom one is epipremnun aureum, which has a number of common names such as ‘devil’s ivy’ and ‘golden pothos’. It’s a very easy plant to grow. I’m afraid it’s toxic to dogs and cats. Can’t help with the other two though.

Gorgeous! Could you give us an estimate for how much this all cost? I started clicking on your links and adding it up, and if I did the math right this would cost upwards of $160 to make 3 (including the cost of plants and soil, which I estimated as $40). Not a huge deal, I just like to know how much to budget for my DIY projects! 🙂 Thanks so much for the tutorial and many illustrative pictures!